Yesterday was lobby day on Capitol Hill at the National Bike Summit, and Wisconsin’s delegation of citizens, business leaders and advocates to the Bike Summit had pleasant meetings with all of our elected leaders or key members of their staff. The good news is improved our relationships and reminded our electeds that bicycling is big business in Wisconsin, bringing more than $1.5 billion dollars a year into our economy and supporting more than 14,000 jobs. In meeting after meeting, our bike industry leaders from Planet Bike, Saris, Trek, and Wheel & Sprocket told their legislators that the federal funds leveraged by local and private funds that build bicycle facilities in communities across our state are essential to the continued success of their businesses.

In a meeting with Rep. Paul Ryan, Rob Gusky, representing Kimberly-Clark, told the powerful congressman, that his company’s significant investments in bicycling have yielded a healthier workforce and lower healthcare costs. Brandon Buth from Trek told Senator Ron Johnson’s transportation staffer (coincidentally named Tom Petri) that by making Madison a Platinum rated bike friendly community, it will be easier for Trek to hire talented workforce. “We’re competing against California, Washington and Oregon,” said Heather Fortune from Saris Cycling Group, which employs 200 people at their manufacturing plant outside of Madison.

Traffic congestion in Washington, D.C. is at its lowest in more than a decade and it is worth noting that the fact that the bike lanes are busy is not a coincidence.

In every meeting I attended, I cited examples of how our state bicycle industry is a rare example of companies bringing good paying manufacturing jobs back from overseas. Federal funds that build trails, protected bike lanes, and support bikesharing put more butts on bikes. More people riding bicycles equates to more business for our state bike industry, which means more jobs and more money pumped into our economy.

The staff at the League produce well-designed and informative leave behinds for all the delegations to take to their meetings with legislators.

Of course, like every year, we also made the asks suggested by the League of American Bicyclists:

Because people are driving less and cars are getting better fuel mileage, the Highway Trust Fund is projected to run in the red before the end of this year.

To this we simply responded that whatever the solution, even if it is short-term, bicycling needs to be included. Because the federal funds allocated for bicycling are a drop in the transportation funding bucket, even if they were all cut, it would do nothing to solve the overall problem, but it would kill thousands of jobs back in Wisconsin.

I leave our nation’s capital today and head back home, I feel good about what we accomplished, but know we have a lot of work ahead of us if we are going to save federal funding for bicycling.

About Dave Schlabowske, Deputy Director

Dave was the first full-time staff member hired to open the Bike Fed's Milwaukee office 11 years ago. A former professional photographer and life-long Milwaukee resident, Dave lives with his wife Liz and daughter Frankie in the Washington Heights neighborhood on Milwaukee's west side.